


Wastland

by Dark_Angel_96



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: F/F, F/M, Friendship, Mild Sexual Content, Post Apocalypse, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-02
Updated: 2014-05-02
Packaged: 2018-01-21 16:38:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1557056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dark_Angel_96/pseuds/Dark_Angel_96
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>200 hundred years have past since the Reaper Virus devastated humanity,  but humans aren't beaten easily.  After years of killing, plundering and scavenging,  people started recreating humanity earlier glory. </p><p>But everything that took years to build can be destroyed with one bullet. </p><p>And Tom and Henry are right in the middle of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't really a fanfic, it was inspired by games and movies such as Fallout 3 and The book of Eli, but all the characters and events in this story are all me.
> 
> Any improvements or suggestions, I'm always ready to listen to the best and most supported ideas.
> 
> Enjoy

Dieser Weg wird kein leichter sein,  
dieser weg wird steinig und schwer  
(Xavier Naidoo)

Act 1 

To his left an eternity of sand was laid out in front of him, to his right the same yellow ocean of grains lied still and untouched. Before him a cracked black path ran from his feet to the horizon, Thomas knew that this path wouldn't be easy, but he wasn't going to stop now, he wasn't going disappoint Henrik. No, not now, not after they had travelled so far, he had promised Henrik and he was going to goddamn well show him what he wanted to see.

The two rugged figures travelled at the same pace, moving parallel to each other whilst following the 66. They didn't know why it was called the 66, it was just what everyone called it. Henrik looked up at the glaring sun, the light drying him out just by looking at it, he quickly looked back down at the dark rugged terrain they were travelling on, thirst wasn't a problem, it was silence. He couldn't handle it, back home, Krieg was always full of sounds: the shouting of merchants, the laughing or crying of children, the wooing of pretty girls. It all just contributed to the great noise that was his home.  
Here it was a completely different story, there was no life, water was fantasy and worst of all he couldn't listen to his music. Thomas instructed him to give him the electronic devices when they first started to walk into this endless sandy void of boredom. Now that you come to think of it, Thomas hadn't said a word for hours, which was a change from his usual ranting and discussing and debating, that Henrik silently ignored. But this silence didn't make Henrik rejoice, the fact  
he didn't have to listen to Thomas go on about post-world philosophy or history or politics. No it worried him, he had never seen his age old friend so quite. Even when his Father would yell at him to "for god-sake just shut up for a while", Thomas would still storm off mumbling to himself. But here he was silent, like the dead who cover their world.

Ocean: blue, water (saltwater), inhabited by fish and other such animals. The water is not drinkable, but with the right technique can be made drinkable

This is the definition Thomas had written into his Book of Words, he had come far, even though it was getting harder to find writing material. Never the less he wasn't going to stop searching or writing, this journey of theirs would serve as a perfect opportunity to acquire ( scavenge ) more valuable unacquired materials ( stuff ).  
" It will be a miracle if I find some liquid ink in this this hostile hell, what's the use of being a multi tasker, if you're going to spend the day performing one simple task at a time. ?" he asked himself.  
His marvellous brain was raging with thoughts and ideas to how he could spend his time more efficiently.

"O....th.....a.......ou.....!" was all he heard as the calls coming from his friend ripped him from his thoughts.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that?

" A house! Look! Over there !" Henrik replied whilst frantically waving his hands, in a direction slightly off the route they were following. Thomas scanned the plain until his eyes stumbled upon a small decaying wooden structure lying in the distance.  
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to correct you. That is in no way a house." Thomas stated.

Henrik squinted his eyes hoping his friend who was always right, had finally made a mistake for once. His eyes did not disappoint him, with every step the structure grew and looked more and more like a house.

"That my dear friend, is a shack. Calling it a house would be an insult to every house-like building you have ever had the good fortune of entering. "

Henrik rolled his eyes and then gave his friend look that Thomas knew all too well. Henrik quickly forgotten the comment of his companion and started to pick up pace, thus ending the synchronized rhythm both of them had, had.

"House, shack, tree, truck, anything with more shade than this hat, will do me nicely. " he replied moving now from a quick march to almost running.

The hat Henrik wore was old, way old, it probably was old during the post-world. But it meant more to him than any other object in his position. Because this is what Thomas had given him, when he taught him what a gift was. Thomas knew this and discarded the sly comment about the hat and began to run after Henrick.

"Henry, have you thought about the fact that, maybe the shack is already occupied?

"Nope" Henrik wasn't in the mood for quite reconnaissance, he wanted shade and he wanted it now.

"Good. Well, great that we sorted that out." Thomas sarcastically commented.

"Look, firstly: how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that! "

"As many times as it takes for it to sink in." He replied.

"My name is Henrik! "

"Your name sucks!"

They both stopped.

"Along with names like: Kevin, Dylan, Kyle and Tucker!"

The silence raged between them for a number of minutes, all the while the two 20 year olds exchanged a number of looks.

"Anyway TOM !

The two started walking again.

"There is no living thing out here. Look! No water no, no plants, no livestock, no people."

The two were now standing in front of the dying home, the sun still beating down  
on their hats. The house was bigger than they thought, it was a two story building with a rocking chair on the porch. Both of them looked at the house and then at each other.

Thomas pulled his M9 pistol out of it's holster and looked at his friend beggingly.

"Please?" Thomas pleaded.

Henrik inhaled deeply and exhaled loudly. He looked at the ground whilst shaking his head. His arms flew around to his back, where his shiny M16 hung around him.

"Fine" he caved. " But I'm telling you, there is nothing in there. " he said as started to make his way to where he thought a backdoor would probably be.

Thomas walked calmly and silently towards the front door. He put his gun in his right hand and leaned up against the wall left of the front door. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, then he knocked on the door.

 

Act. 2 

A few moments went by, as Thomas stood extraordinarily still, waiting for a noise to appear. He wasn't scared, had done this sort of thing many times before with Henry, but was … nervous. Anything could go wrong the occupants could open the door and shoot him straight away or they could hold him hostage or even use him for food, people can get really desperate in these times.  
Suddenly footsteps could be heard. Hard and clunky on the slowly decaying wooden floor. They circled the interior of the house and then made their way to the front door.

“Please be friendly, please be friendly, please be friendly” Thomas repeated in his head.

The door swung open, hiding Thomas behind them. A barrel of a gun poked into Thomases line of sight, the clean, black barrel had definitely had been cleaned lately.

“Who is there ?!” a deep voice called out.

“ My name is Thomas, who are you?” Thomas replied, clenching his gun and getting ready to strike at any moment.

“Thomas! I am your father!” the voice called as Henry peeked around the door.

“You asshole!” Thomas shouted and then laugh as he bent down, holding his knees. Why had he told him about that quote, he didnt even know where it came from.

“ Come on, the moment was just right for it.” Henry chuckled. “ Besides theres no one in there. But loads of post world-stuff, come Tom stop being such a wuss.” Henry smiled knowing fully well his friend wasn't a wuss, just a very careful person, who didn't like to be messed around with. Come to think of it, thats the only thing that separated the two, except for Toms post-world interests. When he goes into a dangerous situation, he tends to do so guns blazing, whereas Tom seems to prefer the longer, more careful route.  
Henrik gave Thomas a tap on the solder and then returned into the cool shade of the house.  
“ You're still a dick.” Thomas muttered.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

The home was cool and dark , as Thomases eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room he was standing in, he noticed the how nothing seemed touched. The floor was just one great carpet of dust, except for the Henrys footprints that dotted the room. There was a Television in the center of the room and a large sofa standing in front of it, which Henry was cleaning with an old towel he had found.

“Thank goodness, I got over my dust allergy or I would be going berserk at this point.”

“I know.” Henrik turned to face him. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

Henrik looked at the sofa he had just cleaned, he had always had a cleaning fetish. Even though he was the type of guy who people would compared to people called cowboys, he never like to be in a room that was under his standards of clean.  
He turned facing the television and slowly let himself fall on the sofa. Dust flew into the air, Henrik didn't even bother asking himself where it had come from. Thomas sneezed as the dust invaded his nostrils, then he turned away so the newly airborne wouldn't continue their assault.

"We could acquire some electronic items from that TV." Thomas coughed.

“Can't you fix it or something, I mean you pretty much grew up with all that”

Well he wasn't wrong, Thomas grew up in Krieg with his Mother and Brother, his Dad died during a raid from some Raiders (no pun intended). His Dad had left their family a shack in which they lived in and some ground for farming, which is hard to obtain, seeing as not to much ground in these lands is fertile, but the greatest treasure that they found after his passing was books, papers and the greatest treasure of all : a electronical device, which he can now identify as a personal “Apple Pod Touch”. Their family managed to scrape by with their small farm,  
trading the majority of their vegetables for meat and other possessions, whilst keeping a minority of their food, so to have a decent variety of things to eat. Whilst his brother would be doing most of the work with his mother, Thomas would be spending his time with the books and papers of his father. His brother wasn't upset about the order in their family, he was well aware of his little brothers potential to know more than their mother and he himself combined and only wanted him to have a better or at least easier life. In the end it did pay off, Thomas was well known for his knowledge in many subjects, especially in computers, post-world history, languages and literature.  
Thomas could only use his knowledge in computers and bargaining though,  
from the three languages he knew ( English, French and German ) English was the only one he could use, but he spent alot of time teaching his brother his “secret languages”, it gave them time to bond and helped them in some tricky situations with thugs, phases like “Wenn ich dir das Signal gebe, laufst du” or “Allez pour celui à gauche” could really come in handy.

“ Hellllllloooo!” was the the sound drawing Thomas back to reality.

“ What? Yes! Oh. Emmm, I can't just fix this TV willy nilly, this thing at least 180 years old, god knows what crawled into this thing and to be perfectly honest I don't what to know.”

Thomas was trying to collect his thoughts after having them filled with memories of his brother and him listening to their Apple Pod and lying in the sun, from what he had red this was a privilege of the old word.  
He turned to looked at Henry, who had sunk into the sofa and was looking quite happy there, his eyes were closed, his arms were crossed and his mouth was giving of a small pleasant smile, which it doesnt do too often.

“ You look comfy, you want to stay here?” Thomas said whilst collapsing into a chair.

“ Its an option.” Henrik mumbled.

“ Im still not convinced, that this place is completely deserted. Its on the 66.”

“ So?”

“ Its an ideal place to store things or to use as a rest stop for traders. I'm surprised we didn't see too many people on the way.” Thomas adjusted his hat so it covered his face.

“Well, we did meet that extremely nice man who took uns in for the night, by the way why were you miserable, the whole time?”

“Well I wasn't really impressed with his “shoot-first-ask-questions-later” policy.” A annoyed tone creeped into Tom's voice.

“ Oh calm down, one mistake and you go all Hermione Granger on me.” Henrik was waiting for waiting for the comment.

“So, you did read the book I found!” Thomas was surprised, Henry didnt usually use the talent that he had taught him. He stood up and walked towards the sofa. “Oh and by the way its not the one mistake that annoys me, it was the 37 semi automatic mistakes that almost took my head, that annoy me.”

Henrik gave off a short laugh and then proceeded to stand up as well. “ That might be the case, but you still have to admit that he turned out to be a very nice man. Anywho, what do you want to do?”

Thomas looked around and then faced Henry. “ Well I also think we should stay here for the night, we might not the chance to stay in another place like this, anytime soon."

Henry was pleased that for the first time in what felt like forever, they were doing something the way he wanted.

" It's still noon so let's just get settled in first." Thomas walked towards the flight of stairs in the the corner of the room, "and we can start with checking the upstairs. "

\----------------------------------------------------------------

The wood creaked with every step Tom took, he tried to move as slowly as possible, not only to try to be as stealthy as possible, but also to make sure the wood he was stepping on would not give way.  
Suddenly, in the mid of his intense battle with the stairs, a flash flew past him.

" HENRY! " he practically shouted in his mind.

" Are you out of your mind!?" He whispered angrily.

"WHAT? I cant hear you over my enormous bad-ass ego!" Shouted Henry, grinning as he had reached the top of the stairs and then disappearing into the rooms above.

Thomas gave out a sight, one that summed up his emotions quite well and the proceeded to walk up the stairs at a normal pace, knowing that knowing fully well that any surreptitiousness they might of had, was gone now.

“Emm .... Tom!! I think you were right about the house!” Henry's voice contained several mixed emotions, but the ones Thomas could definitely hear out were: Fear and uncertainty

Thomas gave out a sight, one that summed up his emotions quite well and the proceeded to walk up the stairs at a normal pace, knowing fully well that any conversion they might have had, was gone now.

"What the hell did he found now?" Thomas muttered as he climbed the last few steps and then proceeded to enter the room with the open door. As he went in, he saw Henry standing to the left of him staring at the wall that was hidden from Thomas's sight by the door. Slowly he peered around the door, his heart pounding, afraid of what he might see.

The sight hit him like a tonne of bricks. The pile of guns sitting on and around the table were in awesome condition, AKs M16s, G3s, G36c's, grenades, RPGs, body armour, the list just went on and on. All these items had been covered by a plastic sheet, that was now lying on the floor, probably thrown there by Henry.

The two just stood there for a second not knowing how to react, 'do they take what they can and just hope that they don't run into the people these guns belonged to? ' or do they 'leave them there and just go before these people show up? '. Both scenarios were playing out in the minds of the two young men.  
Thomas turned around to stop looking at the pile of military grade weapons.  
" Ah, Christ!" He yelled as he noticed large boxes and canisters of food and water.  
" What the hell are we going to do !?" Thomas shouted unable to take in the situation they had found themselves in.  
"This is a goddamn storage house! We have to go, we have to go right now!"  
Henrik was completely silent, but made his way down the stairs with Tom. He grabbed his gun, made sure Tom had his, grabbed his gear and went through the front door.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

The two started running down the 66 at a quick pace, but then stopped simultaneously, as both noticed at least three dust clouds on the horizon that were slowly but surely getting larger and larger. Both knew what those clouds were.  
"Well that's it then." Henry spoke.  
Tom looked at him with a scared and puzzled face, even though he knew exactly what his old friend was about to say, which was:  
" We're screwed."

 

Act. 3 

Thomas slammed the door as he and his friend stormed back into the shack, Thomas leaned up against the door and then grabbed his head.  
"No, no, no, no!" He uttered and started walking in circles, with every step he took another footprint was engraved in the carpet of dust.  
" We're f*cked, screwed, am Arsch! What are we gonna do, What are we gonna do? !" He kept repeating to himself.  
Henry was standing completely still, leaning up against a wall with an old dusty picture on it, watching his usually calm friend absolutely freak out.

"Dude dont just stand there! Think of something! Thomas yelled and in his hysteria throwing a lamp against the floor.  
" Did that make you feel better?" Henry finally spoke.

Tom collapsed on the old sofa and tilted his head back whilst closing his eyes.

"No."

"Did it help?" Henry shuffled towards the window facing the dust clouds.

" Yes" Thomas chuckled

Henry had spotted the three clouds again, they seemed closer now, which didn't calm his already tense nerves.

"Maybe they're just dust Devils. " Henry knew he was wrong, dust devils are much too small to be seen from this kind of distance.

"Dont cheat yourself Henry, thoughts are three motorbikes and a car behind them." He had obviously come to terms with their situation, seeing as his voice had returned to its usual light and neutral sound. Henry checked to see if he's was alright. Thomas had changed his posture, he was now sitting completely still and facing the dusty TV. This was worrying Henry, Tom wasn't the type of person to sit still, he always would be always moving, regardless of the situation.

"Are you ok?" He asked concerned.

"Im just thinking about what im gonna to say when I meet my maker. "was the cold response that Henry received . Tom's lack of hope, was causing Henry to also start to doubt their future. Henry didn't answer and silence ruled the room for a time that seemed like hours, until he broke it.  
" Hey." It was a quiet tone that Henry gave of, but something that didn't receive any attention from Thomas.  
He tried again only bit louder this time.  
" Hey!" Again no response from Tom, the anger was starting to build up in Hery until it finally burst.  
" Look At Me!"  
Thomas slowly turned his head to look at him, revealing his sorrowful eyes. Henry quickly saw his error and returned his expression to a heart-filled one.  
"We are not dying today, not here, not as long as I can help it." His encouraging words breathed new hope into Tom, who gave out a short sigh.  
" I appreciates it." he spoke with his voice trembling.

Since they were kids Henry was always there to save him, be it from bullies, hunger or nature itself, he was always there. The hat Henry carried was a symbol of that friendship and it was something that they treasured unconditionally.  
The sound of the oncoming bikes and car were getting louder and louder. They boys were well aware that their deaths could possibly be right in front of that door. But they weren't going to let their last few moments with each other be filled with fear and anguish.

" Do you remember the day we met? " Henry smiled

" How could I forget." They both thought back to that day.

" I was being beaten shit out of by some assholes and you came along and ....."

" Hey you...yes you... leave that kid alone."  
"Yeah that was it." Thomas laughed.

" Yeah, and then they beat the shit out of me, " he chuckled, " you was an idiot to try and help me".

" I know........ I bit a guy." Thomas admitted. " what did I yell again"

Henry burst out laughing and quoted " Unhand him you heathens! "

All of the sound of motors roaring stopped, but the two of them didn't care, they were occupied. The sound their laughter could be heard from outside and soon the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard clunking on the porch outside.

The doorknob turned and the door flew open. A tall dark man with a ski mask in and a scarf around his mouth walked in.

Both boys looked at him and and smiled even though both knew this was the moment they were dredging.  
" Hi." They both said.  
He then turned around and slowly closed the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Times may change,  
but standards must remain  
(Billy C.)

  
Act 1.

Everyone knows the story.

174 year's ago a disease arose in the Philippines, one that at first seemed completely harmless. The symptom of this disease was coughing. It was simple, because of it's simplicity it wasn't really minded. "Just another treatable disease" they used to say. After 2 and a half years there was at least one infected in every country of the world and still the world keep plodding along, not caring.

7\. January 2032.  
Revelation-Day

No one could explain what happened next, people were scared, Anarchie spread as the government couldn't handle the outbreak.  
The ones that were infected two years ago, were practically dead already.  
On that one fateful day a large majority of the infected just fell down and died.  
People who thought they just had a simple cough, suddenly experienced: liver failure, skin lesions and light sensitivity, if this didn't kill the victim, at the last stage the victim suffers total organ failure.

There were seven billion people on the planet at the time, 2 billion seven million forty five thousand people die on that day and another four billion died over the course of the week.  
The virus was nothing the world had ever seen before, not only did it kill a man in one day alone, but it also die after its host dies. The virus didn't just kill humans but also certain species of animals and even plant life in certain area, like centre of north America, eastern Europe and northern Africa.

After all infected perished in the week of horrors, society was no more. The few that survived did not know how to continue, with so few around and system of government or even society, the once united survives turned on each other and started creating their own states and countries desperately trying to recreate what they had lost.  
The next hundred years consisted mostly of fighting, surviving and scavenging. Lately the new generation has been quite successful in enforcing post-world values, like diplomacy, trade and respect.

Many many years after the viruses rampage, a scavenger found letter sent to a high medical executive. This letter contained the name of the virus:

" The Reaper Virus"

 

Act.2

Eli turned from the closed door, to face the two boys who had sadly found themselves in this situation.  
The first was relatively well built and looked quite manly, the second was a bit skinny and didn't really look like a very dominant person.

"Twidal De and Twidal Dum." He whispered to himself as he swaggered over to the boys, his right hand positioned close to his holsters, just in case.

" Well boys" he started " We're in quite a pickle, aren't we?"

"Dont have to be." Henry stated

A sound could be heard in the distance, Eli looked out the window to see dust clouds comming towards them, a messenger perhaps. He turned back to the boys, he had more important thing to handle right now.

" Well, if only it were that simple. " Eli looked at the skinny one.  
" He knows what's coming. Dammit I hate that look."  
Thomas was looking at the floor, he had asked himself many times, how he would like to die. A shot through the head would be the quickest and most painless of options, it sure as hell beats being mauled by a bear or what ever.

"Can't we just forget about all this? We won't tell anyone and you'll let us go. " Henry was trying his luck, even though it hadn't brought him very far lately.

"He won't let us go. Even if he says he will, he'll just shoot us when we have our backs turned"

A silence grew in the room.

"I'm afraid that's the way it has to be. " Eli said , his voice marked with sorrow.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not a religious man, but if god exist he was with Thomas and Henrik on that day. Either that, or they had so much goddamn luck that they could of jumped of a cliff and survived.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

" Who wants to go first?" Eli pulled out his gun, it was a very well cared for Desert Eagle. " We all know how this is going to end."

"I'll go first." Thomas said waverly.

Henry looked at him, his eyebrows risen. All the sadness in this world, were captured in Henry's face at that moment.

" I'll be brave this time." He joked with a smile and patted his old friend on the shoulder as he walked towards Eli.

He suddenly felt lighter as he walked towards his executioner, his heart pounding, his thoughts raging but his eyes concentrating on the weapon that will end his life.  
He knelt down in front of the masked dark man and looked up at him.

"What's you name actually?"

" Eli, Rick Eli." He reviled as he took of his ski mask and removed his scarf from his mouth.

"Thomas O'Brien" he raised his hand.

They shook hands and Thomas lowered his head. He felt the barrel of the gun being placed on his head. His last wish was to let his mind roam, so he did.

"Why is Henry so quite? Why did I suddenly feel light?....... Where's my pistol!?"

Thomas eyes shot open.

"Put.... the gun..... down." Henry spoke.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

Eli's expression changed. He was sorry for the boys and had shown it, now he was being threatened.

" Otherwise you're going to shoot me ? "

"Yeah."

Henry stood there, with a 9mm pistol in his hand and a hate filled look on his face. His eyes did not waver from his target.

Eli stood up, but did not raise his gun.

"You're going to shoot me with an unloaded gun?"

Seconds past and the staring war continued.  
"He's bluffing. He must be. Thomas wouldn't take out the mag, would he." Henry's gase didn't falter, but his confidence did.  
"Dont look. Dont look. He will shoot you if you look. " he kept telling himself, until he finally came to the conclusion :  
" Kill or be killed." And pulled the trigger.

*click*

"I told you, no mag." Eli raised his gun.

Thomas's heart pounded.

Henry closed his eyes and whispered  
" Was worth a shot. "

"I can't watch him die" Thomas thought

"Night night. " Eli said pulling the trigger.

 

Act. 3

Thomas stood and smacked the gun out of Eli's hand.

*PANG*

Eli looked at Thomas, his ears ringing. He grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up.

"This could have been so much easier. " Eli's brown eyes dug into Thomases.

He squeezed hard and lifted Thomas higher, so high that his feet couldn't touch the floor any more.

"I felt sorry for you and was going to make it quick...." He started pulling out his hunting knife "...but now I'm going to make it slow and painful. "

Eli turned to look at Henrik.

"And you're going to wa....." Eli looked down the barrel of his own gun.

*SPLAT*

\----------------------------------------------------------------

Eli's lifeless body fell to the floor and so did Thomas, gasping for the air that had been strangled out of him. Thomas felt his burning neck, that had turned lobster red.

Thomas knocked, " Well that went........ differently than planned. "

Henry walked towards him

" Yeah well, I couldn't be bothered to die today. " he spoke

" And wenn would it be convenient for you?"

"Later" Henry said with a smile whilst offering Thomas his hand.

Thomas looked at it and returned the smile.  
"Why are you always saving me?"

"Because I can" was his answer.

Thomas took his hand and hoisted himself up and in braced his friend.

"You know. ...." the two parted " the guys outside dont know we're still alive."

Henry looked puzzled, he was sure that Eli's companions were going to burst in any second now and fill them full of lead.

" How do you come to that conclusion? " he whispered, now knowing that they were "ghosts", it would be quite stupid to give themselves away.

Thomas leaned in.

"Only two shots were fired. "

There was a pause and then a smile.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Eli!" The ginger shouted. "Get your black ass out!"  
"Dude! Give man some time."said his brother. " You know how he is when he has to play executioner. "  
The air was still and the three men stood in a sort of triangle, waiting for their "camerad" to emerge from their hideout.  
One of them, the car driver kept dancing around in a very energetic manner.

"Danni! Stand still! Or am I going to shove my boot up your ass?! " implied the ginger.  
The young man stopped and faced his partner.  
" No, I don't think that will be necessary." He slowly started walking towards the man.  
"Cause we all know that by the time you started to lift your foot, mine would have beaten yours there."

All of them looked puzzled, Danni included. The puzzled looks transformed into small smiles.

"What!?" The older brother laught, "You'll beat my little bro to your ass?!"

All three of them started laughing, loudly.

"Ok it was supposed to come out differently." Danni laught.

"I bet it was. " the younger ginger giggled.

A silence rose as the three of them noticed how rare, moments like these are.

"When are we supposed to be back at the hub?" The ginger asked  
"Sunset." The brother spoke.  
All three turned and looked at the sun.  
It hung lazily in the sky and slowly slid down the clear blue

"Hey guys, thanks for taking me in, I know it must of been a hard decision." Danni didn't look the two brothers directly in the eyes. He thankfull and glad they did but he knew that they didnt like speaking about it, as far as he knew they stuck their knecks out for him when they insisted he be able to join the gang.  
"Thank Eli, he was the one who insisted you join, we just joined in." The older brother started looking at the shack behinde him.  
"Hes been in there for a mighty loong time."

" Do you think he's in trouble?" Danni started getting nervous, Eli was his mentor his guide in the gang, without him he wouldn't know what to do. Sure, he would still yave the two brothers, but they were friends, Eli was if anything the closest thing he had to a father.

A loud bang ripped through the building, a sigh of relife fell on their faces.

"Finally. " the younger ginger sighed

Not long after the second shot echoed into their ears.  
"Right." Danni began walking towards the porch of the shack.  
"Hold up." The older brother mustered.  
Both Danni abd the younger ginger looked puzzeled at the tall man, who had stood still and was staring at some shapes heading towards them.

 

Act 4.

"We might have a chance" It was short and shrouded in uncertainty, but what it ment to the two boys was : Life, Freedom and a future. If they could pull this off, they could go home or even continue their journey, fact is they could go and that was all that mattered.

"You good?" Henrik looked at his shacking friend,  
Tom wasn't good, not by a longshot. His pupils were contracted, his usually straight hair was rughed up and he was in a cold sweat.  
But if they wanted to survive this ordeal, he would have to ignore it and get a move on.

"Yeah, I'm good." He answered faintly.

"Come on."

As Henry spoke, he took Tom by the arm and started pulling him up, Tom still weiry from past events, tried his best not to be a burden.  
Once the two were both standing again, Henrik held Tom by the shoulder and looked into his deep green eyes.  
Why was he so ready to die?  
The guestion had dug itself deep into his mind and was causing a lot of activity in his mind.

Thomases mind was having a different problem. It was a mess. For the first time in god-knows-how-long he couldn't think straight. His mind was filled with distractions:

What was that?  
"I dont know, did I actually hear something?"

Is that Henry ?

"It could be."

"Thomas ." Henry shook him

What was that?

"Thomas." Thomas faintly heard the whisper, it souneed so distant.

"Snap out of it man! They'll be in here any minute. "

Is that Henry?  
"Of course it's Henry, who else is it going be?"  
Is he our friend?  
"I think so...wait..yeah, yeah he is."  
Tell him.  
"Tell him what? "  
The secret. Thomas shook his head in shock but was still stuck in his conscious coma.  
"No! He cant know!"  
Tell him, let it out!  
"No."  
Tell  
"NO!"  
Tell him, tell, tell, TELL!

A sharp stinging pain hit his right cheek.  
A smack.  
Thomase's eyes widend and he was flung back into reality.  
"Ow! What was that for?"  
"You were weren't thinking straight, so I used unconventional means to get you to think straight.  
Plus I've always wanted to give you a good smack."

Thomas gave out a small chuckle  
"Well it worked." He admitted rubbing his head, his mind still plagued by the argument he had just had with himself.

Another noise echoed from outside, Thomas still weary drom the odeal, didn't notice, Henrik did and it was costing him  
even more of his nerves.

"Look we dont have time for this!"  
Henry's patients was starting to run thin,  
"We're just standing here whilst there are armed guy's outside, who's brain we just blew out!" He whispered angrily.

Suddenly Tom's head rose and and turned to look at his friend.  
"Well then, we should be off then."  
Thomas turned and almost skipped over o the stairs and quietly jumped up the steps.  
Do I have to slap him again?  
He glanced up the stairs, wondering if Tom was still nutts.

"Come on, we haven't got time to dilly dally, dear friend. Into the breach!" Came echoing down the stairwell.

With one hand on the railings, he looked down smiling.  
"Yeah, he's back. "  
Henry hoisted himself up and charged up the stairs to be united with his best friend.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

" Did they say that they were going to send more people? " the older asked, walking towards his bike.  
"No," Dennis was scrating his head and looking if his submachine gub was in his holster, "but maybe they sent some more guys. I mean, it makes sense. We have a lot to transport and it's quite valuable so........" he made a gesture with his hand to show how his theory made sense.  
" Yeah well, I still don't think it's them."  
"And why?"  
Danni heard the younger brother pull out an AK from a pouch strapped to his bike.

"Because if they were our guys, they would have been here sooner. "  
The younger brother said whilst cocking his gun.  
"My guess, is that their traders, " the older brother had now pulled out his wepon of choosing, a light maschinen gun.  
Dam, thats rare. Danni wouldn't know, but the LMG had been in the Brothers family since Revalation-Day, the older brother wad planning to pass it down to his younger brother when he thought he would be ready for it. This large wepon wasn't just a wepon, it represented their family: strenght, power, clenlyness ( you often have to clean such weapons) and tradition.  
Danni let himself glance at the wepons once more after checking if his magazines were full. The ancient wepon had their family name painted on it's side "Brown".  
So that was their name, the brown brothers.  
Danni mouthed the name of his close colleges. Why had it taken him so long to find out their names? He knew them since his enorgaration into the clan.  
The thought made his arm ack from the permanent scare that maked him as one of them.  
The older Brown took hold of his bike and placed it sideways of the 66, blocking the path.  
"Can they just drive around us ?" Danni's look was still fixed on the oncomming bikes.  
"Into sand? Yeah good luck with that." The younger smurced, as he adjusted a scope on his rifle and the proceeded to look through it.

"Those are traitors, definatly. "

"What makes you say that?" Danni asked.

" There's like five of them, lightly armed as far a I can see and they have lovely big bags on their bikes." The younger Brown smiled and looked at his brother with an eyebrow raised.

"Let's just take interessting Items, we dint food and water." The older looked at the oncomming bikes thst were at least a minute from them away and then glanced at the shack.  
"Someone get Eli out if that house before I kick his ass out!"  
Danni put his gun in its houlster and started walking towards the front door.  
"Get him." He called.

He proceeded to open the door and gave a wave to the brothers, telling them to keep looking at the bikes.

"We got it, just get him." They called.

He opend the door.

 

Act. 5

The blood was everywhere, on the walls, on the couch, it covered the floor and Eli's body. Eli was lying straight on his back, with a hole cousing straight through his head.  
Danni couldn't breath, his heart was racing and his mind blank. He was still trying to call his mentor's name.  
"E.....E.....El......Eli?"  
He fell to his knees, a tear running down the right side of his cheek. He had obly known him a good three months, but in these three months Eli had become more than just a mentor, he had become his new father ............ who he had just lost.

"What's wrong! ?" The younger shouted, seeing Danni knelt down in the doorway.  
"Danni ! What happened?"

The bikes drew closer, their sound echoing.

The older Brown knew what had happened, he knew it would.  
"Listen to their voices Brown, they're just kids. What? You think I can't handle a few kids? !"

The memory lingered in his mind.

"Obviously not." He whispered.

He knelt down in front of his bike, adjusting the guns bipod ob the seat.

"Danni get your ass back here now! " he commanded whilst cocking his gun.

Danni did as he was told, silently dragging himself away from the doorway and pulling out his gun. He will have his revenge, so much was clear. The thought was the only thing keeping him fron becoming a horrible crying mess.

"But what about the guys who killed Eli?!"  
The younger called horrible.

"We'll deal with them later" he whispered coldly.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Henrik heard the door slam close again downstairs, his heart started to slow down again as he realised that Eli's man had gone again.  
"Why didn't he look for us?" Henrik looked at Tom, who was busy rummaging though the pile of guns.

"What? ... Yeah me too. " he said distantly.  
"What's your fancy?"

" What?" He looked at him and started walking towards him and the pile.

"What gun do you want? "

"I have a gun." Thomas patted him rifle, that was slung around his shoulder.  
Thomas turned to look at his friend's gun, he kept his view on his friend's M16 and then gazed at his friend's face

"What? It's a good gun."

Tom raised an eyebrow and then also raised a G36c out of the pile.  
Henry's eyes widend

"I think this one is better." Thomas smiled.

The wepon glimmered in the sunlight, making Henry's eyes glimmer with it.

"Do you know what kind of gun it is?"

Thomas lowered the wepon and looked at him with a 'are-you-serious' face.

"I gave you the book, a book so valuable that clans would fight over it," A hint of anger rose in his voice " and you" he stood up "dont read it!"

The book was hard to come by, Tom found it in what was left of an old military base, the same place where Henry found his "pathetic" M16.  
The book was probably one of Thomases most prized positions, even thought Tom doesn't really like to rank his collection of books, he does however know that some are more important than others.  
Just think of it, a book that can tell you the different weapon types, how to clean them, how to take them apart and use them properly. A book that is evem more valuable than the wepon itself (kind of).

"I've been occupied lately with more important things, like the situation we're in right now so......" Henry waved his arms around, " start brainstorming. "

" What? You want me to find the solution to this situation? " he was going to right this one out as long as possible.  
"I thought I wasn't thinking straight, I thought I was still traumatized from the fact that you splattered a guys brains out, right next to my face!"  
His tone had changed, something was comming Henrik could sense it.  
" I thought I was still pissed at you for ripping away the only chance I would have gotten, of having a quick and peaceful death!" The words flowed from his mouth like lava from a volcano.  
Their eyes disconnected from each other, both not knowing what to say next. Thomas knew whathe just said was out of line, how could he have just said that to he guy who just saved hia life, not just this time but many times before that.  
Thomas looked at Henry once again, the sight wasn't what he had expected. Henry was standing still looking down at the floor with not crying eyes, but something lose to it.

"Is that what you want ? " he wasn't sure if the answer would help the situation, but he juzt had to know.

"Henry I...."

"IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT!" The shout was probably too loud but it didn't matter.

"I don't what to die........ but........ I'm not keen on living either."  
(*wink, wink*)  
"Think of all the different ways we can die, in this world. You can be shot and bleed out in agony, you can get impaled, mauled, infected, stabbed, crushed, decapitated, and and and and."  
A silence grew in the room, it was very unnerving for both of them. Henry was going to answer but Tom stopped him by raising his hand.  
"It was a hance to die easily, quickly and even you don't want to admit it, with a bit of civility."

Henry not sure what to say, let out the first thing tha came to mind.

"Do you want me to shoot you or what? "

The look on Thomases face was filled with horror and a little disgust.

"WHAT?! NO! HOW COULD YOU EVEN.."

"Well what the HELL do you want from me?! Do you what me to say sorry? Do you want me to pity you? Oh poor you! Little Thomas has to face dangers in a world where hundreds if not thousands die every day because of the dangers that you survive!"  
Henrik turned red.  
"I like you Thomas, you're my best mate! That's why I save you all the time, that's why I follow you every where and wh  
y I want to you to teach me the stuff you know.  
Without you, I'm alone Thomas! "

Thomas looked at him and Henry looked back. The room fell silent, both minds thinking, if you were to describe the two boys with one word, it would have to be "thinkers".

"I....... I don't want to die......... and I'm not going to kill myself, especially if you don't want me to, Henry."

Thomas stretched out his hand as he stood up.

"Cause your my brother, mate and always will be. "

Henrik grabbed his hand and pulled him into a hug. Yes it was kind of weird for two twenty year old guys to hug, but screw all thoughts guys who, didn't like it.

Shouting could be heard from the outside.  
Right we still have that problem. Henry thought as he and Thomas separated from their embrace.

"Back to surviving? " Henry smiled.

"Yeah, back to surviving" their hands still in a brotherly handgrip.

Now that that's out the way Thomas thought and glanced at the window.  
Time to remove the second problem.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

"This isn't going well. " Danni muttered under his breath, a hand firmly placed on his gun's handle.

His anger and frustration from Eli's death, had only died down a little, but had only beem replaced by the frustration that this heist was causing.  
It was a stupid idea, that was only supposed to block out their sorrow, but only was going to get them killed.

"Just give us some of your stuff and no will get hurt." The younger brother was definitely not in his right mind, he had no idea what to do or say. The stress had just overwhelmed him.  
His older brother just kept silent with his aim on the traders, hehad probably fell in the same type of depression as Danni.

" How about you get out of our way before wenhave to make this nasty, Dickhead."

Well, that's it, Danni thought, we're going to have to kill them now.

" You want to start something with me asshole! ? Cause I'll tear you a new asshole quicker than you can blink"

The biker dismounted, followed by the rest of his crew.

The Brown started walking towards the bikers, his brother his staying still, his gaze not wavering and his figer itching to pull the trigger, before his brother gets into real danger.

Whilst the two men shouted and cursed at each other, Danni stood still and frowned ae he heared a noise comming from the shack and concentrating on the fight being prepared for in front of him.

\---------------------------------------------------------

Henry peered through the window and waved Thomas over, the two analyzed the battlefield outside the shack.

"This is only going to escalate into a fight..........with some help." Thomas was hinting his plan.

" The question is, Who would win the fight? Thoughs traders or what ever have strenght in numbers, but Eli's guys have a LMG...........I did read that bit."  
Thomas smiled at Thoms comment.

"Well this guy down here, looks quite vunreble." Henry wasn't sure how to react to that comment. Thomas was acting as if he was at dinner, chosing what kind of food he would like to have. Henrik felt as if he had tapped into a dark side of Tom, that seemed as if it wanted to kill.

"Let's go for the LMG guy. He'll be the most dangerous for our guys."

They nodded in agreement.

"You do it" Thomas patted Henrik on the shoulder, something he had been doing alot lately, " you're our rifle guy."

Henry grabbed the rifle (the G36c) out of Tom's hands and walked slowly towards the window. As he reached the window, his eyes practically locked on to his target.  
The man tall, well built and kneeing in front of a motor bike, his LMG had been placed on the bike and was facing the group of traders.  
Henrik kneeled down in front of the window and then slowly, silently and slitly lifted the wind.  
He adjusted the 4x scope on the rifle and then oh so carefully placed the rifle barrel on the window ledge. The sound the argument outside drilled into his ears, he blocked it out as best he could, concentrating on his own slow breathing.

He placed his targets head between the sights crosshair and started to count:  
"1 and a 2 and a 3, 1 and a 2 and a 3......."  
He reaped this rythem several more times, until...

*PANG *

 

Act 6.

The sound of the bullet ripping throught the air caught Danni by surprise, he looked at his body to see where he had been shot. He was unscaved, no blood, no pain, no problem. He turned to look at the brothers to see if they were ok.

The younger brother had fallen to his knees, his rifle still in his hands, tears flowing down his face. Danni followed his gaze, to only jump at the revelation.

"Darren! " the younger Brown cry in horror. " No, no, no, No!"

The man was slumped over his bike with an all to familiar hole in his head. His gun had fallen down beside him, with his blood covering the family name.

The younger brother started breathing in hard in anger and turned to look at the traders that (he thinks) killed his brother. A shout roared out of him as he saw that all of them had their guns drawn.  
In an instant he was on his feet and firing at the men. Two fell to the ground in response, one stood still firing at the enraged brother, whilst two men to the left of the group were riddled and pierced with bullets.

Danni stood helplessly as the one mans shot hit home i the younger brothers chest, arm and face. It was a horrible sight.

"Thoughs kids are going to DIE!" he called in his mind as he pulled out his gun wanting to charge into the shack.

The trader misunderstood his action and fired another two rounds into Danni, hitting him in the shoulde and the chest. As he fell to the ground he gazed into clear blue sky and focused at the bright sun.

"Die!" He mustered, before all went dark.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

"Right, time to go. Let's hope that they won't think were apart of their gang." Thomas smiled at Henrik and houlstered his 9mm.  
Henry heard Thomas walk downstairs, but kept his view on the the man that he had killed and two that because of his actions died as well.  
The two gingers lied crooked on the ground floor and the one one that looked their age lied peacefully on his back.  
"Sorry." He whispered as he silently closed the window and blew the smoke from his barrel.

"You comming ?" Tom's voice was filled with joy and hope, he didn't pull the trigger.

" Yip"

Henry made his way out of the room giving the supplies one more glance.  
So what was going to happen now? Were the traders going to let them go, or kill them? I wouldn't have surprised Henry if they would just kill them.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs he saw Tom standing at the front door with a hand on the knob.  
Henrik strolled towards him and gave him a look.

"You got a plan?"

"I've always got a plan." Tom smiledand opend the door.

Both didn't move, afraid that if they would be shot on sight. Tom stuck his hand out, waving at the men to his right.  
The next to follow was his head and he saw the men he would have to confront.

"Come out with your hand out!" The biggest of them called, he was definitely the one who shot the men now lying on the floor.  
"Sure no problem. " Tom gave Henrik a wink and then proceeded to walk out side and so did Henry.

"So you two, what's your story? " he said as he waved them over.

Tom gave Henry a nod. And then turned began reciting what had happened to them over the last few hours, but kept to himself the fact that Henry shot the gang member.

"We have nothing to do with them what so ever." Henry added.

"So?" Thomas asked "Can we go?"

"Sure, but that's a nice gun your friend has there." The trader pointed his gun at Tom, not in sn aggressive way, but in a more suggestive manner.

"Sure, you can have it" both Tom and the Trader smiled, seeing as their transaction would go ahead without a problem.

"Wait." Henry spoke " you can have the pile in the shack. "

The trader licked his lips and rubbed his chin.

"Pile? A pile of thoughs guns? "

He turned to his fellow tradesmen who were now playing more attention to what was being said than their two dead comrades on the floor.

Thomas not knowing why, just continued the information flow.  
"Oh yeah, there's a huge pile of guns up there," he pointed at the second story of the shack, " and lots of water and tinned food. You could make quite a profit."

The trader filled with greed all stared rushing into the building. The big one only walked, he knew they would share it equally anyway (or else).

Henry in as well, he had just remembered that their bags were his in the living room and he wasn't going to trust thoughts stinking traders.

The large man stood in front of Tom and lookes down at him.

"Seeing as no one is shouting anything yet. I'm guessing that you're telling the truth, but why didn't you use the guns to kill the gang members?"

"4 vs 2? It wasn't really in our favour. "

The man looked around counting the body's that weren't apart of his group.

"But there's only three..."

"There's another inside." The memory of his strangling lingered in his mind, as did the argument he had with himself

Tell

"Shut up!" He thought.

"Thoughs are my bags!" Came echoing out of the house, not long after Henry emerged from the doorway shouting  
"Keep your hands to yourself you greedy Bastard! "

As he joined Tom again and handed the him his bag and hat, the man stuck out his hand and shook the boys hands.

"So where you going, boys? "

"Well next stop is 'Scraptown'." Thomas reviled adjusting his hat.

"Oh that's not far." the man laughed " You'll make it before nightfall. "

"Well then will get going. " Henry said as he stared to walk.

"Thanks for the pile-Tipp. " the man said before walking towards the shack.

"Dont mention it. " they called simultaneously and continued their long.

After a few minutes of walking west, Tom stood still and looked at Henry, who just started walking backwards looking at his friend.

"My Pod is still in there right?" Thomase's face was as serious as it could be.

Henry stopped and laughed.  
"Yes it is, along with my music player. It was the first thing I checked for."

"Good, screw the water and ammo, I need my music." He laughed as he caught ip with Henry.

Henry threw Tom a bottle of water that he had pinched from the shack and checked if the solacharger was sticking out of his bag.

They continued walking for a good two hours before reaching their first checkpoint: Scraptown.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Preview

Cities are where the people  
and their rulers  
can live in harmony,   
until you raise the taxes  
(Me)


End file.
